Help Me Make My Inauthentic Altbier

[AlexKay]

I recently had an altbier at Dovetail in Chicago and it was truly excellent. I have utterly no idea whether it was authentic (though the folks at Dovetail do have some cred), as I've certainly never been to Dusseldorf and for that matter I'm not sure I've ever even had a German example of the style. But I do know a good beer when I get it, and this was one: very drinkable, lots of grain, lots of melanoidans, a little bit of crystal sweetness and roast, quite bitter, and noticeable hop aroma. That's what I'm aiming for.

As a further note on inauthenticity, I'm going to use mostly American craft malt, I'm not going to do a decoction, and I'm going to use dry yeast. That's just how I roll. I've also got a weird assortment of hops on hand.

So, first stab at things:
35% Pilsner
35% Vienna
20% Munich
5% English light crystal
3% pale chocolate
2% midnight wheat
To 1.045-1.050. I'm tempted to try English pale instead of the Pilsner. (That's what Weikert -- also not a fan of authenticity -- does.) I also have Caramunich that I could use instead of the light, but I like English crystal.

Magnum or Marynka @ 60 to ~35 IBU
Spalt or Boadicea or Northern Brewer or Crystal, 0.2 oz/gal. @ 10

Lallemand Köln, fermented at 60 F

Everything except the yeast is open for debate! Hit me with your ideas.

 

[Shenanigans]

I recently had an altbier at Dovetail in Chicago and it was truly excellent. I have utterly no idea whether it was authentic (though the folks at Dovetail do have some cred), as I've certainly never been to Dusseldorf and for that matter I'm not sure I've ever even had a German example of the style. But I do know a good beer when I get it, and this was one: very drinkable, lots of grain, lots of melanoidans, a little bit of crystal sweetness and roast, quite bitter, and noticeable hop aroma. That's what I'm aiming for.

As a further note on inauthenticity, I'm going to use mostly American craft malt, I'm not going to do a decoction, and I'm going to use dry yeast. That's just how I roll. I've also got a weird assortment of hops on hand.

So, first stab at things:
35% Pilsner
35% Vienna
20% Munich
5% English light crystal
3% pale chocolate
2% midnight wheat
To 1.045-1.050. I'm tempted to try English pale instead of the Pilsner. (That's what Weikert -- also not a fan of authenticity -- does.) I also have Caramunich that I could use instead of the light, but I like English crystal.

Magnum or Marynka @ 60 to ~35 IBU
Spalt or Boadicea or Northern Brewer or Crystal, 0.2 oz/gal. @ 10

Lallemand Köln, fermented at 60 F

Everything except the yeast is open for debate! Hit me with your ideas.

I would replace all the Pilsner with Munich and leave the Vienna like it is.
You might like English crystal but Caramunich would be more authentic and I would increase it to about 7.5 or even 10%.

I can understand that if you dont have any Carafa special that a combination of chocolate and midnight wheat might get the right color and a bit of rostiness.
However, normally only a few ounces of Carafa are used in a 5 gallon batch, so check the color in Beersmith or whatever other software you use to make sure that amount doesn't result in the beer being too dark.

For the hops I would move the last addition back to about 30 mins instead of 10 mins and adjust the quantities so you don't end up being too bitter.
Spalt would be fine but I prefer NB myself.

 

[bellhp]

I suggest using the Caramunich ... I used 12oz caramunich 60 with an oz of carafa I and I used Hallertau tradition for bittering and Tettnang for aroma in the only ALT I brewed which came out nice ( better than the only real ALT I drank) .
Used WL 036 for mine but the Kolshe yeast will be fine I reckon .
Use whatever base you want my OG was 1.053 FG 1.014
38 IBU's

 

[AlexKay]

I would replace all the Pilsner with Munich and leave the Vienna like it is.

The Munich I like to use is rich stuff. I use it at 50% in my Doppelbock and it's a melanoidin bomb. I could do 70% Vienna/20% Munich, or maybe 60%/30%, I think, or break out the English pale.

You might like English crystal but Caramunich would be more authentic and I would increase it to about 7.5 or even 10%.

I've got some Weyermann Caramunich I on hand. Can do.

I can understand that if you dont have any Carafa special that a combination of chocolate and midnight wheat might get the right color and a bit of rostiness.
However, normally only a few ounces of Carafa are used in a 5 gallon batch, so check the color in Beersmith or whatever other software you use to make sure that amount doesn't result in the beer being too dark.

I do have Carafa Special, too, but I like what pale chocolate brings to the table. I think I do need the extra midnight wheat to get the color right, but I'll double-check.

For the hops I would move the last addition back to about 30 mins instead of 10 mins and adjust the quantities so you don't end up being too bitter.
Spalt would be fine but I prefer NB myself.

I do like NB, but I've also never made a bad beer with Boadicea. I'm definitely hoping for more hop flavor, and the floral/spicy English hop seems like it could work ... both, of course, at the price of authenticity.